SASC chair supports Hegseth’s budget review, plan to cut, re-prioritize billions

The Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday voiced support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to “review the entire budget” at the Pentagon to find about $50 billion that can be cut and shifted to President Donald Trump’s priorities.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) spoke following the Pentagon’s confirmation on Wednesday evening that Hegseth has directed DoD officials to cut eight percent from the pending fiscal year 2026 budget request, put together under the Joe Biden administration, which can be redirected to other programs.

“This process will enable the secretary to offset needless and distracting programs – such as those focused on climate change and DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] – and direct focus on important warfighting priorities shared by the Congress,” Wicker said in a statement.

Wicker has previously detailed an agenda to boost U.S. defense spending to five percent of GDP, likely pushing the Pentagon’s topline over the trillion-dollar mark.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on SASC, stated the memo could lead to the Pentagon making “hasty, indiscriminate budget cuts,” which coincides with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) turnings its attention to DoD as it looks to inform potential workforce reductions.

“These types of hasty, indiscriminate budget cuts would betray our military forces and their families and make America less safe. I’m all for cutting programs that don’t work, but this proposal is deeply misguided,” Reed said in a statement. “Secretary Hegseth’s rushed, arbitrary strategy would have negative impacts on our security, economy, and industrial base,”. 

Hegseth’s memo specifically directed DoD officials to identify cuts to “low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs” in the fiscal 2026 budget requests, with those offsets used to boost funds for “President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense, according to acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses. 

It remains to be seen which programs will be targeted for cuts, while reports on Hegseth’s memo noted a list of 17 categories that are exempt, to include: border security, nuclear modernization, the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program, the Navy’s Virginia-class submarines, homeland missile defense, counter-drone initiatives, munitions efforts and more. 

Meanwhile, Trump said last Thursday Feb. 13 he intends to meet with the leaders of China and Russia to propose that all three nations agree to cut their military budgets “in half,”  That stands in stark contrast to the view among senior GOP lawmakers that the U.S., and its NATO allies should push to boost defense spending.

A version of this story was first published by Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily.